Beware the Fate of the Fairy Winds
In many folk tales from around the world there are accounts of a midwife who is taken by fairies to help with a birth. Apart from the overall otherworldly nature of these tales, the mode of transport is one which is often overlooked; that of the fairy wind. This wind seems to have a property whereby it can move between the human world and fairy world. It is, in some respects, able to part the dimensional curtains, so to speak, and not just a way to carry a body over the land and mountains. In some of the accounts the fairy wind can also effect time for the person caught in its pull, as if the wind contains within itself the very timelessness of the Otherworld.
Allegory of the Wind by Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1882) (Public Domain)
Crossing Over with the Winds
Now, in all ancient magical traditions the various winds are often called upon to carry messages between the physical and spiritual worlds. Some winds are said to travel to specific realms and to individual gods, goddesses and ancestral realms. Even in contemporary witchcraft and magical rituals the wind is invoked to bring blessings, healing and even to banish persisting negative forces. This is not just a folk-magic observation as even within the Vatican library, the names of various winds are painted in circles onto the floor signalling their rule over various domains.
